Donna Acevedo, Mother of Man Slain by Anaheim Police, Running for Anaheim City Council

The race for two open seats on the Anaheim city council this year just got a whole hell of a lot more interesting. Donna Acevedo, a mother who lost her 21-year-old son Joel Acevedo to an officer-involved shooting in July 2012, filed papers to run for Anaheim City Council.

"I was already thinking about running before," the lifelong Anaheim resident tells the Weekly, "but the Manuel Diaz verdict yesterday made me want to do it even more."

For Acevedo, the status quo has got to go. "I'm just frustrated with the council we have now," she says. "They don't represent anybody I know or neighborhoods like the one I live in." The candidate currently resides on Anna Drive.

For the past year-and-a-half, Acevedo transformed her bereavement into fierce civic engagement, faithfully attending city council meetings and speaking on numerous hot-button issues and becoming famous around town for driving in a car with "Film the Police" in the back window. She's a proponent of single-member districts that will come before the ballot in November, but will engage on other issues as well.

"I want real police oversight--that's the main thing," Acevedo says. "Besides that, there should be cultural centers to promote community involvement and provide safe spaces for youth throughout Anaheim. I go to city council every week and I think about all the resources they give away. Why can't they put it into the youth instead of their hotel developer friends?"

Acevedo also thinks local government needs to be more transparent. Too many initiatives come up to council for a vote without sufficient outreach to neglected neighborhoods, she says. "The city needs to be more inviting of the community."

"I want to shake things up. Nothing is really changing. Our communities have a lot of healing to do, but how?" Acevedo concludes. "I worked as a nurse in a wound care. You can't heal a wound by putting the same dirty bandages on!"

Wow maybe if she paid more attention to her son he would be alive. Why the hell is he out in public carrying a shotgun? That's my first question to ask the mom. Poor parenting skills. If she can't control her kids she can't control Anaheim.

Qualification: she has never aided and abetted the cover up of nor participated in murder or attempted murder while hiding behind the color of authority. The standard bar for entering politics in Anaheim/Garden Grove is extremely low.

What a waste of time!!! It's futile. You can try all you want, but Mickey and Anaheim Hills runs the show!! Also, Art is part of Anaheim politics. Sorry, you need funds can't show up and say I want to be the mayor or the President.

so the qualifications to be a politician in Anaheim is to be the mother of a gang banger named Stomper? however, knowing the local gentry in Anaheim, i predict she wins by a landslide....viva mehico???

@vivamehico No, the typical qualifications to be a politician in Anaheim is to be well connected to slimy, big-business interests and when elected bleed the public coffers dry by giving away taxpayer revenue to said special interests.

no, the qualification is to be mexican and corrupt.. does bell, hp, cardenas boys, pulido, etc..have something in common? yes, i know other races have corrupt politicians, but the sheer numbers of mexicans being indicated and convicted far outweigh their political representation..perhaps the culture of corruption is ingrained in their DNA?

@vivamehico@gabrielsanromanThe current council has no Mexicans on it. You'd know that if you knew anything about Anaheim local politics. As for the snide remark about DNA ingrained corruption, that's a convenient way for folks such as yourself to blame a people while being oblivious to those in power who hook up their well connected friends and fleece Anaheimers.

Your operating under the assumption that the Orange County, CA District Attorney's office isn't deliberately turning a blind eye to a sea of criminal white American filth operating in same County, yes? Reputation destroyers, attempted murderers , court/law enforcement/federal government defrauders etc etc etc. It's called fudging the statistics.

@ alexander cultede raison.. dude! hehehe how many times have you seen ''no country for old men?'' I always find it funny when people try to dress and do their hair like the actors they adore.. Halloween everyday for these jokers.. go look at alexanders page..MAN!!! this is Orange County right? lol dude maybe hit the situps instead..you need it!

hey you said nigger above..that's racist too.. trust Me, you couldn't kick My ass..you talk tough though., you have a funny surname.. also I'm a True American, which means I speak My mind.. if your not into American culture, move to Israel or some other shithole place.

This is going to be a great way to shine a giant spotlight on the "happiest place on earth". That the Latino mother of a son murdered by the Anaheim police department feels no other recourse than to run for a city council seat - because the five clowns currently holding office are either willfully clueless and therefore cowards or criminal sociopaths.

Hey have you heard that Tony Rackauckas' lead homicide prosecutor has been commiting fraud during the discovery phase of mass murder cases? Reminds me of how Tony downplayed the testimony from the other witness to Acevedo's death. Something about ... what was that SAT word? ... Oh yeah "turpitude" ie. credibility.

Wonder why these stories aren't front page news in the Orange County Register?

As an Anaheim resident that is a 1/2 mile from Anna st. I'm all for change and Change takes time.Our street are littered with tagging and these gang members that have the run of things.What will she try to change here in 50 square miles?Has she started with her own damn street?Come on,If you can't clean up Anna street of gangs,Tagging,Drugs and people selling food and used items daily from their garages,Then why would anyone support you,Lady?! What schooling does she have?Im for filming the cops and also people like her son!It's pretty sad how this part of town has gone to shit because of low income housing,Multiple families living in small places,illegal Garages turned rentals and The shit that comes with it!

@18usc241 Latino? are you sure your just not some typical chicano? Hispanics are not Latino, I learned that in Europe the hard way.. our education system in America can really embarrass you if you go to other countries and say what you learned here. they will laugh their asses off.. do your world history homework pendejo! your sending the wrong messages that don't have a valid point..just like how you support this woman who raised a criminal who likely had victims but look at your cheap 8 dollar haircut and it's obvious gangbangers scare the hell out of you.. with a haircut like that, I would roll you over too.. but hey most OC gangbangers are chicanos which in your funny haircut head thinks that's a ''latino.'' what I don't get on the streets is most Hispanics deny being Hispanic in the OC... but on these sites all of a sudden all you hispanics have split personalities and it's ''fiesta time, viva la raza.'' remember Gustavo claims to be proud Mexican, remember his column ''ask a mexiacan?'' Gustavo was born here in America... that's a chicano, not a Mexicano.. I also travel to Mexico..that's where I learned what a pocho and pocha is..the Mexican cops gave Me a run down and said they like to keep an eye on them when they drive through. so, are you and Gustavo primos? you got the ''I hate the Blond bunnies of Laguna beach mentality.'' brah.... they diss us some of us White boys too, so don't think they won't date you cause your chicano whoops! sorry, I meant ''latino.''

When you walk down the street, do you see labels over people's heads like you do on those massive multiplayer online games? Please press the "remove labels" button for humanity's sake.

There isn't a problem with white, latino, asian, black etc people in Orange County, CA. There is only a problem with bully dummies like you which are found in every race. That's why Orange County CA law enforcement is such a multi-cultural disaster now.

Said the cop and not the other eyewitness which Tony Rackauckas discounted as not credible. Hey, have you heard what's been happening at the Seal Beach salon killer mass murder trial? T-Rack's head honcho is cheating and that cheating is allowing even mass murderers caught on tape to catch breaks.

@18usc241 I can't believe this guy with this funny haircut is an apologist for gangbangers..what gives? you look like a guy they would totally rob and fuck up..what gives? as you can see I'm racist just like you are, but My racism involves getting rid of chicano , black and white druggie criminals, your racism involves protecting people you actually know are scum..what gives?

I thought most people hated violent gangbangers..but by reading most of these comments, it's seem like the ocweekly praises them..Do they hate Alpha Whites that bad that they rather see their neighborhoods go to shit? I rather live around a bunch of stuck up White people that don't aknowledge Me than in a neighborhood where drugs and cholos run rampant.. these people who support this donna chick obviously don't own property in the OC. when you people actually buy property someday, you'll see what I'm talking about.

You're so quick to blame the police yet you don't stop and think why the police are involved in the first place. You DON'T own a home here in Anaheim,Doubt you personally own anything!With that said Property values have declined because of the atmosphere. It's not up to the police to change the living conditions here its the people who reside here. I truly doubt that this mother or any parent of a gang member would tell there kid to stop. As a parent I don't want my kids to feel they have to look the other way when they see people smoking pot/Doing drugs,Selling and tagging,Because some POS with no education wants to bully them. Most of the people either don't have balls to show pride in the community or their doing the same as these gang members. Take a drive down Anna street and tell me you would want to live there,Doubt it! Another thing to point out...Council members don't just deal with one issue,They have so many things to cover. I DON'T have faith that this mother could where many hats and still cover wounds.She needs to heal her wounds and start change in her own home,then her street and then the city!!!

My family and I owned property in Garden Grove CA from 1988 to 2012. It's how I discovered the filthiness of the Garden Grove and Anaheim police departments. This Latino is also the owner of an engineering education that put me in projects helping Colombian law enforcement on behalf of the American company of two white male American heroes. And your garbage of a police community in Orange County, CA still thought that they could treat me like a gang member. That's why I asked Garden Grove CA Mayor Broadwater at the podium of a city council meeting one day just how criminally racist did former GG police chief Stan Knee have to be to do something like that. Since Bruce "the bulldozer" Broadwater has been floating around as a council member or Mayor of Garden Grove since the days of Pocahontas I figured this genius would know.

You wouldn't know this because perhaps you only read the Orange County Register and listen to Rush Limbaugh but property values in all of the United States plummeted because mostly white male cocaine snorting sociopaths on Wall Street (and the mortgage industry) took the world's monetary wealth and gambled it to oblivion via fraudulent financial instruments called derivatives. But yet you completely ignore that and cry about values going down because of the scary brown people.

One sector of Orange County, CA is being played against the other sector while the cocaine snorting Balboa Bay crowd laughs all the way to el banco.

Speaking of the cocaine snorting Balboa Bay crowd did Tony Rackauckas ever figure out why several Orange County law enforcement agencies conspired to destroy the engineering firm that I was working in? The firm with law enforcement type engineering projects in Bogota. Colombia.

Cool story bro. Still don't give a crap about your speal and if you don't want me or anyone you ever come across to be an asshole twards you then maybe you shouldn't make racist and bigot remarks. Obviously mommy and daddy didn't teach you good morals so I'll tell you what will help you keep all your teeth in tack and not on the floor or down the back of your throat. If you don't have anything good to say then keep it to yourself or be prepared for the repercussions and consequences of your words and actions.

why did you say racist shit in espanol toward Whites but called Me racist? double standard? You realize no matter how much the jew dems break that border, Whites will always be the Master Race? I'm talking about Whites who don't have compulsion issues. even South Mexico folks will tell you this..most Mexicans like yourself are from the norte.. that's why you people are bitter and racist.. You don't think the world knows about Southern Mexicos thoughts of you pochos and pochas? believe it or not any White Person who grew up in California for the last 30 years knows what goes on in a Hispanic household or should I say coverted garage with no building permit.

it was a steak dinner with baked potatoe and all you can eat salad bar with galic bread..I don't lie.. also you may not care but I do...don't be an asshole dude.. I just like fucking with Hispanics who have that small town 90s mentality.